Sticker Shock at Grocery Stores

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:

Now we turn from politics to food prices, specifically a noticeable rise in prices. They're way up in some cases, and the experts who watch these things say they'll keep going up over the coming months as farmers struggle with bad weather and lousy harvests as a result. But is there any relief in sight? Our report from NBC's Tom Costello

TOM COSTELLO reporting:

These days it could be any grocery store in America. Walk down the aisles and you come face to face with sticker shock.

Ms. FARRAH CROWE (Florida Shopper): I thought it was closer to 3.50. I didn't even pay attention. It's almost $4.

COSTELLO: In Margate, Florida, Farrah Crowe says the grocery bills for her family of four seem to grow with each passing week.

Ms. CROWE: It's a horrible time with school shopping that we need to do and, you know, I'm hoping that most of his things still fit him from last year.

COSTELLO: It's no illusion. Prices have jumped over the past year, in some cases dramatically. As of the end of June, government data showed a dozen Grade A eggs cost 19 cents more than a year earlier, 1.68 a carton. Chicken costs 7 cents more, 1.30 a pound. Ground beef was up 33 cents to 3.62 a pound. A gallon of milk, up 33 cents in a year to 3.62 a gallon. Coffee up 1.54 to 5.24 a pound. And prices are expected to keep climbing, perhaps 3 to 4 percent this year alone.

The weather gets much of the blame. Heat, drought and flooding have sent wheat prices soaring, and corn prices hit record highs in June. What you may not know is that food prices are tied very closely to fuel prices and not just because of the cost of shipping, but because corn and soybeans are used in ethanol. The good news is, right now, fuel prices are going down.

Mr. EPHRAIM LEIBTAG (Department of Agriculture): That means that basic food ingredient prices are going to fall and you're going to see that in your grocery store, you know, three to six months down the road.

COSTELLO: But Dorothy Parks says prices only seem to go in one direction.

Ms. DOROTHY PARKS (Florida Shopper): Once they go up, they usually stay up, no matter what happens. And it's very hard. It's hard for me with what I'm getting. I get Social--my husband's Social Security.

COSTELLO: Her strategy, lots of coupons, fewer dinners out, and a hope for better harvests ahead. Tom Costello, NBC News, Washington.